35th ANNIVERSARY BLUESFEST, BYRON BAY
EASTER 2024
28 MARCH – 1 APRIL 2024
SECOND ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT

15 New Artists Announced, with More to Come

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Photo credit: Joseph Mayers

Bluesfest, Australia’s most awarded festival, is thrilled to reveal a sensational second artist announcement for its highly anticipated 35th anniversary of the festival, held next Easter in Byron Bay, NSW.

After the recent unveiling of an incredible initial line-up, Festival Director Peter Noble has turned up the heat with star-studded additions to the program by adding headliners Tedeschi Trucks Band to Tom Jones and Jack Johnson, along with an army of crowd favourites.

Bluesfest’s announcement today of 15 artists, along with the previously announced 23, takes the total to 38 onthe line-up so far.

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The artists included in Bluesfest’s second announcement are as follows:

Tedeschi Trucks Band
The Cruel Sea  I  Taj Mahal Exclusive  I  Tim Finn
Ian Moss I  Rickie Lee Jones  I  DanSultan
The Whitlams Black Stump Band I  Coterie
Playing For Change Band I  Lisa Hunt’sForever Soul
Jackie Venson Exclusive  I  WILSN  I Caravana Sun
Women of Soul Collective

Artists Already Announced for Bluesfest 2024

Jack Johnson I Tom Jones
The Teskey Brothers I Matt Corby I L.A.B
Elvis Costello & The Imposters
Peter Garrett & The Alter Egos
Tommy Emmanuel
The Dead South I The Paper Kites
Drive-by Truckers I Newton Faulkner I Steve Poltz
19-Twenty I Taj Farrant I Erja Lyytinen I Harry Manx
Here Come The Mummies
Clayton Doley’s Bayou Billabong
Little Quirks I Hussy Hicks I Blues Arcadia
RocKwiz Live

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A word from our Festival Director, Peter Noble OAM

I am so proud to bring this incredible gathering of the world’s best artists to Bluesfest Byron Bay. Our line-up is shaping up to be one of our best. And we’re just getting started!

The Tedeschi Trucks Band was the most requested band by Bluesfest2023 attendees to perform at our 35th-anniversary festival, so we are thrilled to be able to deliver on such a demand. In two days from now, Tedeschi Trucks Band will be headlining Madison Square Garden in New York. These guys are a big deal!

We have Taj Mahal playing exclusively for his tenth time! Taj is a giant of the Blues world, with his Blues Hall of Fame membership, his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association, and three GRAMMY’s.

Rickie Lee Jones is one of the greatest songwriters of all time – famed for writing, among others, ‘The Horses’, which is such an Australian favourite. Talking about Australian favourites, we are so thrilled to have The Cruel Sea reforming and playing again, some 15 years after their last Bluesfest performance.

Bluesfest 2024 is set to bean extraordinary celebration of music, bringing together a diverse array of artists and genres to create a unique and unforgettable experience for fans of all ages.

From Blues purists to music enthusiasts, there’s something for everyone in our second artist announcement.

PeterNoble OAM

FestivalDirector

Bluesfest

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Photo credit: David McClister

Tedeschi Trucks Band is a Grammy Award-winning 12-piece rock and soul powerhouse that holds a well-deserved reputation as one of the best live acts touring today.  Led by the husband/wife duo of singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi and guitarist Derek Trucks,“two of the best roots rock musicians of their generation” (NPR),TTB is known for its world-class musicianship and contemporary blend of a wide range of American musical influences that define their extensive catalogue.

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The Cruel Sea is reuniting with original band members Dan Rumour, Jim Elliott and Ken Gormly to celebrate the anniversary of their phenomenal, 5 x ARIA Award-winning / Triple Platinum album, The Honeymoon Is Over. Guitarist/keyboardist Matt Walker will take the place of the late James Cruickshank.

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Taj Mahal (exclusive) is a towering musical figure; a legend who transcended the blues not by leaving them behind but by revealing their magnificent scope to the world. A 2017 Grammy win for TajMo, Taj’s collaboration with Keb’ Mo’, brought his Grammy tally to three wins and 14nominations and underscored his undiminished relevance more than 50 years after his solo debut. Taj was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and has a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association, among other honours.

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Tim Finn is regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. Having established himself in the early 1970s as a founding member of art-pop-rock pioneers Split Enz and later as a member of the internationally successful band Crowded House (alongside brother Neil),Finn has penned some of the most treasured songs in contemporary music. The likes of I See Red, Poor Boy, My Mistake, Dirty Creature, I Hope I Never and Six Months In A Leaky Boat immediately come to mind.

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The Whitlams Black Stump Band formed in 2021 and sees Tim Freedman and long-time Whitlams drummer Terepai Richmond joined by an A Team of roots musicians, reconstructing the best of The Whitlams’ repertoire with an assortment of new songs and classic Americana. The themes of the group’s repertoire are proudly parochial. Rarely have Australian stories sounded so good on American instruments as when The Whitlams Black Stump Band casts forth tales of John Sattler’s jaw, of Ned Kelly’s sister Kate, and of our national impulse to blowup the pokies.

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Dan Sultan is one of Australia’s most loved singer-songwriters. Sultan boasts numerous accolades to his name, including 6ARIA Awards, NIMA Awards, Top 5 ARIA-charting albums and an ARIA-certified Gold record in Blackbird. Dan has played headline shows to sold-out crowds, as well as supporting the likes of Bruce Springsteen and as a guest on some of Australia’s biggest festivals, including Splendour in the Grass, Bluesfest and Falls Festival.

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Rickie Lee Jones is a two-time Grammy-winning American musician and storyteller who has been inspiring pop culture for decades.  In 1989, she released her album Flying Cowboys, featuring her song “The Horses,” one of Australia’s most loved songs (made famous by Daryl Brathwaite’s cover in 1991). Named the “premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation” by The New Yorker and “The Duchess of Coolsville” by Time Magazine.

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Ian Moss is respected as one of Australia’s iconic musicians. He delivers an unforgettable sound– not only as a telling soloist on guitar but especially with his silken voice, ringing with clarity and resonating with pure soul.While primarily recognised as an axeman of tenacity and sweet melodic sensibility, Ian’s distinctive vocal is the essential signature of his soulful, bluesy muse – as it has been since he joined the band that was to become a legend in Australia and that made such an undeniable impact that they are now etched in the Australian music psyche forever. That band was Cold Chisel.

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Photo credit: Vinicius Grosbelli

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Playing For Change Band is a tangible, travelling representation of the Playing For Change mission to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music. With a unique fusion of influences and talents in constant evolution since 2008, the band currently consists of 10 musicians from 10 countries, carrying music from the streets to the stage to the hearts of people. These musicians come from many different countries and cultures, but through music, they speak the same language. They are also a hit on YouTube, too, with a track garnering over 198 million views.

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Lisa Hunts ‘Forever Soul’ Lisa began singing in that great African American tradition, the gospel church, and there laid the foundation of her soulful singing style. Lisa has toured and recorded with Jimmy Barnes, Diesel, and Radio Freedom. In 2004, Lisa once again hit the road with Zucchero and added a few pop stars to her resume, including Ronan Keating, Macy Gray, Delores O’Riordan, and Tina Arena, live at The Royal Albert Hall in London. A much-loved Northern Rivers resident, Lisa is also the winner of ‘Australian Idol’s’ ‘MY MOM ROCKS’ contest for NSW.

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Jackie Venson is a multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter known far and wide for her beautifully complex music and blazing guitar skills. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Jackie has travelled the world playing to crowds both as a headliner and as support for major acts such as Keb’ Mo’, Gary Clark Jr, Aloe Blacc, Melissa Etheridge, and Citizen Cope, to name a few.

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WILSN makes classic soulmusic with a contemporary approach and a healthy dose of raw power. She has the kind of voice that stops you in your tracks. WILSN, AKA Shannon Busch, studied Jazz at the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts. Upon signing a publishing deal with Pulse, she relocated to America and spent two years in writing rooms with Grammy Award-winning writers,honing her craft, before being asked to join The Teskey Brothers on their 2019 UK/Europe tour.

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Caravãna Sun has built a renowned reputation across the globe for its dynamic and energetic live performances. Their infectious grooves, which progressively merge their surfy coastal lifestyle with elements of explosive rock, euphoric electronica/dance and rambunctious reggae/ska, have earned the band slots on some of the world’s most coveted stages.

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Coterie, four brothers making massive waves across Australian and New Zealand coastlines! The band encompass an authenticity often lost in modern music, their records telling lyrical stories drawn from real-life experience and using melodically rich vocals to bring a raw narrative heat to the songs.Immersed in a world of surf and art, the band have developed a unique blend of high-energy,reggae-rock music that has audiences demanding more. Coterie recently teamed up with NZ music icon Dave Dobbyn to rework his 1986 classic ‘Slice of Heaven’.

Women of Soul is Australia’s premier all female collective of soulful songwriters and performers. Their 2023 LP ‘Feel Good’, nominated for the prestigious Australian Music Prize, is the first album in Australia to be entirely composed, produced and performed by an all-female team. Making their Bluesfest debut, Women of Soul presents a high-energy set of original soul, disco, and funk. Featuring vocalists Stella Angelico, Chelsea Wilson, Carla Troiano, Candice Monique, Fem Belling, Alzzy and Germaine McCarthy backed by Monique di Mattina (keys), Tamara Murphy (bass),Emily Shaw (drums), Ash Ballat (trumpet), Jess Mahler (saxophone) and Stella Anning (guitar).

Bluesfest will occur over the Easter Long Weekend from 28 March to 1 April 2024. Tickets for Bluesfest 2024 are for sale via Moshtix on www.bluesfest.com.au/tickets/